I met Miss Libba in '68 at the March on Washington, The Poor Peoples Campaign. I came down with the group from New York City, but ended up living with the contingent from Appalachia. Which was fantastic! The Georgia Sea Island Singers, Myles Horton, Rev. F.D. Kirkpatrick,
Jimmy Collier, Alan Lomax, Ralph Rinzler, Pete Seeger and family. and more, were either there or coming by to visit. Libba Cotton came by one evening with some of the best fried chicken I have ever eaten, and I was, blessedly, invited to join in(back then I had a metabolism that enabled me to eat my weight in food, not gain an ounce, and still feel hungry). The music around the fire every night was simply heaven.

Two years later, hitchiking around the country with my then wife, we were in D.C. for the Smithsonian Festival. Miss Libba was one of the performers, and after her set I went up to say hello. She remembered me and invited the two of us to her house for lunch a couple of days later. She cooked enough for an army for just the three of us.

The next time I saw her was in NYC. I was working at the New York Folklore Center and we booked her for our concert series at Washington Square Methodist Church there in Greenwich Village. I was sent up up to the train station to fetch her back downtown on the subway. She got off the train carrying her guitar and her suitcase. I guess she would have been in her late 70's then. Her concert that night was a joy, the love that flowed between her and the audience was magical. Unfortunately, we had to be out of the church by 11PM, and it was my job to give her the signal to wind things up. The audience didn't want to let her stop, and she didn't want to either. We practically had to drag her off the stage and kick the audience out. She stayed with Rick and Chrissie Altman who owned the store, they lived over in Brooklyn. They offered her their bed, but she refused and insisted on sleeping on the couch. I still miss her smile and the sound of her playing. As confusing as it was to watch it still set a standard that I still try and achieve.

Mark Ross